I worked on late night television during the presidency of the most revered republican idol Ronald Reagan. So I know first-hand how bizarre it is when the white house harassed talk show moderators. Many of the employees at “Late Night with David Letterman” were not Reagan or his politics fans. That’s why we regularly gave satirical jokes at his money’s worth. But never came even the quietest complaint – neither from Reagan Administration nor from the group structures that operated the broadcasters, on which David Letterman lived up every form free speech.
Letterman, censorship and the tradition of “punching up”
I once looked after a segment at the Letterman NBC show, which was called the “test the censors”. In it we intentionally violated, live in front of a studio audience, every single censorship rule of the NBC department for standards and practices. Then we asked the censors to edit the material in such a way that it was transmitted – so that the audience could evaluate their work. The censors were not very enthusiastic, but after some grumbling they played. The end product that the television audience saw consisted of the original reactions of the studio audience alongside a version full of beep tones, pixelated areas and X-bars. (By the way: One of the censored points was a doctor who said the sentence: “So that a woman has an orgasm …” In the 1950s the word “pregnant” was even painted in I love Lucy.)
So: why was it different back then? In America it is a tradition that jokes about power abuse are the core of the comedy. If you analyze the structure of jokes, it is usually about compensating for power gap – giving the weak a voice. This is called “punching up”. “Punching Down”, on the other hand, mocks the weak, is considered unpleasant and tasteless. Trump showed an example of “Punching Down” when he denied a disabled man during his first term. Or when he made “jokes” about Paul Pelosi with his followers, who suffered a hammer skull breaks after an attack by a mentally confused Maga supporter.
Trump, freedom of expression and Kimmels suspension
But that was back then. Today, since Trump and his project 2025 clientele started their second term, many of us are paralyzed. We look breathlessly as he interprets the first constitutional additive so that he only protects one voice: the synchronized praise of himself – from his hatred of opponents to endless monologues to his love for the old -fashioned word “food”.
That is why everyone who relies on self -expression immediately felt the Sensenmann’s cold finger in the chest when Jimmy Kimmel’s obviously politically motivated suspension became known by ABC/Disney.
When Kimmel’s return was announced, I thought of two things: 1) He hardly has to prepare a show, the standing ovations fill the hour. 2) How long does it take for it to happen again?
Media, laughter and authoritarian threats
For many, laughter about Trump’s childish, narcissistic behavior was a valve. His unpregeptively uneducated parade of madness at least offered fabric for ridicule. Humor was a short way out of the stress to see how he smashes the pillars of democracy.
But while Reagan could be self -deprecating, Trump’s team is too threatened by everything to endure humor. Therefore, he now threatens to withdraw media licenses when they criticize him. Perhaps he believes that the founding fathers had visited him in a séance and confirmed that he could define the true meaning of “freedom of expression” 234 years later.
Why did it all become so quickly made from a snowball to an avalanche more authoritarian? On the one hand by the anti -democratic majority in the Supreme Court, which signals Trump that he could do what he wanted. But even more powerful is the shadow of the billion -dollar media mergers that take place in parallel – deals that require Trump’s approval.
Media fusions as a weapon against free speech
The first victim: Stephen Colbert. It was sacrificed when Paramount Global (owner of CBS) merged with Skydance Media. Billions flowed into the pockets of Shari Redstone, while a new, unnecessary construct was created: “Paramount, A Skydance Corporation”. For a moment I dreamed that Redstone could have democratic ideals. But another billion dollar assets weigh more. After all, a billion is hardly enough to keep up with the Sultan of Brunei, whose accumulation of cars is worth five billion. Apparently you prefer to sell freedom of expression right away.
The second victim: Jimmy Kimmel. This time in the course of the 6.2 billion dollar fusion by Nexstar and Tegna. Two names that I had never heard before. But the result is a conglomerate of 265 TV channels in 44 states-approved by Trump & Co. and both continue to plan, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” not to radiate.
“Network” – a film as a dark prediction
We are at “Network” (1976), the film written by Paddy Chayefsky, which earned him the Oscar for the best original script.
I was recently interviewed for an HBO documentary about Chayefsky (“Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words”, from October 1) and saw Network for the first time in decades. I was stunned how precisely the film predicts our presence. Especially the scene in which a CEO of the rebellious moderator Howard Beale is dealing with because he asks the White House to stop a network fusion with Saudi investors.
The head of the group says: “You played with the primal powers of nature, Mr. Beale. … There are no nations. There is only one, huge, multinational system of dollars. … There is no democracy. There is only IBM, IT, AT & T, DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. The world is a corporate college, determined by the unchanging law.”
A terrifying prophecy-and maybe the perfect workout song for Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Chayefsky’s legacy and our task
Paddy Chayefsky saw this moment 50 years ago. If he had written today, he would have added: “… and a small international brotherhood of billionaire-oligarches, whose interests count alone.”
Now it is up to us to write a common, more human and constitutional sequel.
Merrill Markoe is an Emmy-winning comedy author. You essayist and wearer of the Paddy Chayefsky Prize of the Writers Guild of America West.